The Q and the Grey (episode)
Q asks Janeway to be the mother of his child to attempt to stop a civil war within the Continuum. Summary Teaser After witnessing a supernova from the closest distance any Starfleet vessel has ever been, the Captain heads to her quarters for the night. When she arrives, she is startled to find Q in her room. He attempts to proposition her with his odd sexual advances, but Janeway tells him to go away. However, he takes this as playing hard to get, and leaves, but with the intention of returning soon. Act One The next day, Chakotay and the Captain are interrupted by the appearance of Q again. Q thinks that Janeway is attracted to Chakotay because of his tattoo, and produces one on his face, but bigger, which doesn't impress the Captain or Chakotay at all. They both walk out on him. :"Captain's log, stardate 50384.2. Q's unannounced visits continue. Since I suspect he's up to something more than pursuing me, I've instructed the crew to take every opportunity to uncover his true motives." Later on in the day, the Captain is in her ready room again, and hears a small whining sound from behind her desk. Investigating, she finds a Red Setter puppy waiting for her. Janeway recognizes that it's a gift from Q, and remains unimpressed. Q appears again, and tries to coerce her into mating with him. Then, a female Q arrives suddenly. Act Two The female Q disapproves of Q's interest in the Captain, and all three go onto the bridge as Chakotay calls Janeway. Another supernova is in progress, and Ensign Kim confirms that there are actually three other supernovae happening at the same time. Janeway grasps the idea that Q is somehow involved in the supernovae, which the female Q confirms. With the knowledge that the ''Voyager'' couldn't outrun the shockwaves quickly enough to avoid damage, Q transports himself and the Captain to the Q Continuum, leaving the female Q behind. Act Three Janeway finds herself in a recreation of the American Civil War, which is a representation of the Continuum. Q explains that the Q Continuum is at war with itself, and various factions are trying to obliterate each other using powerful weapons. Q also explains that the acts of Quinn (a Q encountered by Voyager before) have brought unrest to the Continuum, with two main sides arising – the ones who wish for individuality and separatism, and the others who want the status quo. Q, unfortunately, appears to be on the losing side, the one wishing for separatism. He then explains that he wishes to end the war by adding Human DNA into the Continuum, and having a baby, something that hasn't been done for over ten millenia. Suddenly the house they're standing in is bombarded with bullets and Q is hit and starts bleeding. A voice from outside the house tells Q to surrender, but Q shoots back, and is hit again. Janeway manages to get him out of the house and to a friendly camp. Act Four :"First Officer's log, stardate 50392.7. While we don't fully understand the astrophysics underlying her plan, the female Q has suggested several modifications which may allow ''Voyager to enter the Continuum."'' On Voyager, the shockwaves hit, hurtling the ship off course, and damaging the warp drive. Fortunately there's no major damage, but the female Q has remained on board, and is injured slightly. Her link with the Continuum has been lost, and the crew attempts to find a way into the Continuum to rescue the Captain. :"First Officer's log, supplemental. We've laid in a course for the point in space where the female Q says we can enter the Continuum and find the Captain." The female Q suggests flying straight into one of the numerous supernovae, after explaining that they're not normal supernovae, but echos of the battle in the Continuum. With a few shield modifications, Voyager enters the Continuum. Janeway convinces Q that the Continuum should stop fighting and try to find a non-aggressive way to resolve their problems. She then suggests that Q should mate with his female Q companion. The Captain goes to the opposing side's headquarters, and speaks to the Colonel in charge. He doesn't agree and sentences both Janeway and Q to death. Act Five Just before they are shot the next day, the crew of Voyager arrives in the area, fully clothed in period costume, with Q-weapons, and rescues the Captain and Q. The Q female and Q mate, simply by touching fingers together. This done, everyone from Voyager are returned to normal space. Walking back into her ready room, the Captain finds Q there, with his new son on his knee, speaking baby words. He thanks her for saving the Q from extinction, and asks her to be his son's godmother. She accepts, and Q and his baby leave. Memorable Quotes "What are you doing with that dog?" (pause) "... I'm not talking about the puppy." : - Female Q, to Q, referring to Captain Janeway and the puppy she's holding "I have really had it with that superiority complex." "It's not a complex, dear; it's fact." : - B'Elanna Torress and Female Q "I've always liked Klingon women. You've got such... spunk" : - Female Q, refering to Lt. Torres, and also possibly the actor's role as K'Ehleyr. "That's it?!" "You had your chance." : - Janeway and Q', after witnessing the Qs mate "''I probably shouldn't be saying this, but this bothers the hell out of me." : - '''Chakotay, after Janeway said that Q wanted to mate with her "I do believe you're jealous." : - Q', to Chakotay "''I've never figured out what you see in this big oaf anyway. Is it the tattoo? 'Cause ''mine's bigger!''" (points to huge tattoo on his face) : - '''Q, to Janeway about Chakotay "Not big enough." : - Janeway, to Q about his tattoo "You! Helm boy!" : - Female Q to Tom Paris Background Information * This episode's title is a reference to the Civil War poem "The Blue and the Gray" by Francis Miles Finch (1827-1907). The title also refers to a 1982 miniseries about the Civil War. * We learn that Voyager's crew are only the third starship's crew to witness a supernova. The ''Enterprise''-D witnessed the Beta Stromgren supernova in 2366 (TNG: "Tin Man"). According to Harry Kim, they set a record for being the closest ship to view one, being less than ten billion kilometers away when the supernova occurred. * For the curious, Voyager was able to enter the Continuum by taking warp drive off-line, remodulating the shield emitter to produce a beta-tachyon pulse and releasing a stream of focused antiproton beams into the shield bubble. According to B'Elanna Torres, this would increase the shield strength by a factor of ten, as long as the shield bubble didn't ignite and burn everyone to death. With these modifications, Voyager could fly straight into a supernova and, assuming the timing was right, be sucked into the Q Continuum. * When Chakotay, Tuvok, Paris and Kim enter the Q continuum on the "Union" side to rescue Janeway and Q, they wield possibly the most powerful weapons ever used by humanoids, the Q-firearms. *According to Peter David's novel I, Q, the female Q is referred to as "Lady Q" while their child is known as "q". * In this episode Q confirms that the Romulan Star Empire once had an empress. * Q says that no Q has had a baby for millenia, but Amanda Rogers in TNG: "True Q" was born from two Q in human form only some thirty years earlier and she did end up joining the Continuum. This may be explained by the fact that Q mentions in the episode Q2 that the Q experience time differently from normal beings. Q stated that he had spent years with his son in Q-time, even though to Captain Kathryn Janeway it seemed as if he had been gone for less than 15 minutes. So to a Q it would be as if many millenia had passed after the birth of Amanda Rogers. Links and References Special Guest Stars *Suzie Plakson as female Q *Harve Presnell as Colonel Q *John de Lancie as Q References American; American Civil War; antiproton beam; beta-tachyon pulse; chocolate truffle; Cyrillian microbe; Drabian love sonnet; DNA; Empress; ''Enterprise''-D, USS; firing squad; Freedom Faction; godparent; pascal; private; Q Civil War; Q Continuum; Q Junior; Quinn; Romulan; rose; sex; stuffed animal; subspace; subspace inversion; supernova; targ; tattoo; temporal anomaly; Therinian Ice Age; Union Army Q and the Grey, The de:Die Q-Krise nl:The Q and the Grey